I enjoy sharing books that I have read, photographs that I have taken and sometimes an occasional piece of artwork. Often I am inspired by other people's work so maybe someone in this great big blogland will be inspired by something of mine.

I watched this episode on Food Network and bravely thought I would give it a try. It looked great and easy on TV. As I may have mentioned before I hate to cook, but once in a while I will try something out of the norm for me. So here is how it went.

Starting at three o’clock in the afternoon first I chopped all of the ingredients for the slaw. I didn’t have fennel and neither did the grocery store that I went too so I substituted celery which Scott the produce man would work just fine. Then I made the red wine vinegar dressing for the slaw but I left it out until a little later. These bowls went into the refrigerator while I moved on to the next step, preparing the chicken.

I washed the chicken, placed it on a tray and patted it dry as Melissa d’Arabian said that would cut down on splattering once it was put into the frying pan. Into the pan it went to cook until the skin side down side was brown. Next I made the orange-juice honey mixture, it just boils for three minutes in a pot. I do not have a frying pan that will go in the oven and the oven and range can’t both be on at the same time in spite of having a new breaker box. Oh well remember I hate to cook anyway so no big deal. Once the chicken breasts had browned I placed them into a casserole dish, covered them with the orange-juice honey mixture and put them into the oven. Next the potatoes. Not fun.

Chop, chop, chop. Lots of chopping. I bought a big brand new knife for this just so I could look the part. All I could think about was how bad it would hurt to get stabbed with one of those bad boys. Or how icky it would be if I had to use it on a burglar. You have to be mentally prepared you know. Ok back to the potatoes. They couldn’t go right into the frying pan since the oven was on so I set them aside in some water to wait their turn in the hot seat. Ha. Get it? Hot potato.

After the alloted time I removed the chicken from the oven to set (only a person can sit, right). I then drained and dried the potatoes and put them into the frying pan to saute for about five minutes stirring, stirring, stirring, lots of fun there. Next I threw in some water, covered them to let them steam, then tossed some butter around on them and spread them on a baking sheet. How many dishes have I used by now? Too many.

Then I proceeded to cut the chicken off of the bone and it was done! Gross! So the chicken has to go back into the oven along with the potatoes for twenty-five minutes. I figured they could share the heat.

I take the slaw out of the fridge, mix up the dressing only to discover (because of course I sampled) I had used too much Bacon Bits. Yes I cheated and used Bacon Bits instead of the real deal. Bacon Bits are way too salty. Don’t use them for this purpose.

Ok so next the chicken and potatoes are finally done but the potatoes don’t look like the ones on T.V. Hmmm. Oh well they weren’t too bad. Hey Hubby liked them, that’s amazing. He loved the slaw too! So now I am two for three. He wasn’t too crazy about the chicken and neither was I. It was a little dry and the skin rubbery.

Now if I were to let you peek into my kitchen, which I would not, you would see that the range, the sink and all of the counter tops were covered with dishes, pots, pans and utensils.

No more watching Food Network for me. Just give me a box to throw in the microwave, or something to pop in the toaster. I have more interesting things to do other than cook and clean.

I was told today that if you place your turkey upside down to cook it will turn out moister than usual. Supposedly because all of the juices will run down into the breasts. Maybe the rest of you already know that but not me. I might have cooked a turkey twice in my life if that many times. So there you go a turkey tip for you from me. Good luck.

that if you are baking a German Chocolate Cake you can add the frosting right into the batter? Why yes, yes, you can. Why would you want to? Honestly I have no idea. It does work though and tastes good. I have tried it before. So there you go, an oddball little cooking tip from me. One of the very few you will get.

There is a little something strange in this photo. I meant to photoshop it out but I got in too big of a hurry. So I decided to leave it in and see if anyone else sees the strange thing that I see. Something you would Not want In your cake batter. It’s not real just an image that appears to be there. To me anyway. I see things like that a lot.